Some content on this page is not suitable for young eyes or faint hearts.Views expressed by Sleep Talkin' Man rarely reflect the opinions of waking Adam.Especially the desire to exterminate all vegetarians (but he does hate lentils.)

20100217

"Who said ants are strong? I can still- I can still- I can still- I can- I can- I--- Bollocks! Squish 'em."

"The zero is the same. It always will be. It never changes. Zero is zero.... One? Huh, he's just a lonely cunt."

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Karen's note: Ok, about that first one, Adam tells me that "legs eleven" is how you call out the number eleven in bingo. It frightens me that he knows this. He also tells me that "my giddy aunt" is some sort of expression that means "silly," although it definitely not the sort of thing he would ever use when awake. Anyone want to check on the validity of these?

Legs eleven is followed in bingo by a slow wolf whistle. Did he do this??? And my giddy aunt means 'oh my goodness' and I (shameful blush) sometimes use it to avoid swearing in front of the kids... Soph :)

Your posts never fail to make me giggle like an idiot. Thank goodness I read this blog at home where nobody can see me. They'd call me certifiably crazy if they saw my reactions to your posts. Love it!!!

'oh my giddy aunt!' a lovely clean expression of surprise which we simply don't use enough these days.... as for the bingo, legs 11, two fat ladies 88, all the 2s 22... it's an other fine old english passtime. The bingo-caller has a little phrase for each number, to add a bit of showmanship to the game, and also allow enough time for players to mark their numbers.

It shouldn't frighten you that Adam knows legs eleven, even if you never play bingo it's just one of those things that people know. My great aunt and great gran used to live together at house number 88 which always made me chuckle...

As an American living in the UK, I can confirm that "my giddy aunt" is indeed a British expression of surprise or amusement, rather like "oh my goodness". It's a little old fashioned and I have never personally used this phrase, although I have heard it used in conversation - usually when the person is trying to avoid using various swear words we won't mention here. ;)

My father used to say "oh my giddy aunt!" when he was despairing/amused by a situation. It's a very old fashioned polute way of saying "oh for god's sake!" or "for crying out oud!" (or similar phrases I am too polite to post here.

I was just doing a history club with some middle school students yesterday, and one of the girls brought some papers with her from when her grandmother had been lucky enough to get sent to England (from Canada) for the coronation of King George VI. At the back of her journal was a list of British expressions and what they meant, and "my giddy aunt" was one of them, so it was used by teens in 1937, at least.

I used to call Bingo at an old folks' home. They soon told me off if I forgot one of the special phrases. It's mostly only the doudle-digit numbers that have them (like Legs 11 and Two fat ladies) but we also had "one little ducky on his own, number 2" and "five-and-nine, the Brighton line, toot-toot" (where I had to do a train toot sound). I got very very scowled at when I forgot that one.

"legs -11, two little ducks - 22, two fat ladies - 88"I suspect this custom grew up due to the age of most bingo players and the associated loss of hearing. It most certainly is real. You might well enjoy watching "The Mighty Boosh episode: Nannageddon" for a perverted example).

"My giddy aunt" is also a real expression and was often uttered by the 2nd Doctor Who incarnation (Patrick Troughton roughly 1967-70), but rarely heard now.

reminds me of the song Two Divided by Love - Grass Roots - can only be one and one is a lonely number ORThree Dog Nights - One is the Loneliest Number, It's the loneliest number, since the number one ... is the loneliest number that you'll ever do...

zero is as Zero, does = 0 = 1 single digit all by it's lonesome, but never forgotten...0 degrees is better than -1 and below! just zeroing in on the O effect.

Law of physics that zero goes nowhere up nor down, invisibly fast nor slow...it remains on an even keel , balanced and proportioned :)I o_o that now.

... and over in the corner, over there...in a giddy mood, my giddy, my giddy, my bad!...my giddy aunt! ROTFL, My Giddy Aunt is ranting over the ants taking on an arm ('n a leg )wrestling match with Adam in his sleepy pajamas asking himself - - -

"Who said ants are strong? I can still- I can still- I can still beat'em!...- I can- I can- I--- Bollocks! those army... stick together 'n did me in; again, too many arms, 11 legs even...Squish 'em. and good."waitillnextime...just1moretime...i'll unravel the 'O' factor once and 4'all - - -git'em done.

Thank you anonymous 12:32! It was driving me Nuts trying to remember which movie I heard "My giddy aunt" in!It may be time to revive some of these old sayings into daily speech, at least then I wouldn't have to edit in front of the kids! lol

22 is sometimes refered to as 2 little ducks....bingo is a strange game......used to play a lot as a child at the old peoples home at the end of my Grans road!Giddy aunt also means "oh my gosh" to me, born in Cornwall. Although my dad and family are from Yorkshire......

If you cant beat them, squish them. I believe that all people abide by your methods. It is the jealous spirit inside all of us that yearns to sabotage others when the goal is beyond reach. Ants can lift twenty times their own body weight. Many humans cannot even lift twice their weight. When the odds are so stacked against you, the last resort is to stop others by any means possible.

"My giddy aunt" is said by the awesome Paul Bettany as Chaucer in "A Knight's Tale." It's one of my favorite movies! (Note - the line wasn't written... he just kind of threw it in because he liked it!)

Just reading thru the comments and got to thinking: Can you imagine in years to come leaving all these innocent bingo phrases behind and new one's taking their places. As has happened with "Oh, my giddy aunt!"

Brett-Nicole, are you living in the middle of no-where?? LOL,....maybe you're Amish? However; to help you out there is always the URBAN DICTIONARY, google it - it will open your eye's to many wonders!!

Thanks Anon 20:55, of course, shape!! Funny how things make sense once you know why ;)

I recall noticing a bit of cross-cultural borrowing in bingo, in a TV documentary (on what, precisely, I can't remember): the caller announced number 54 as "Car 54." with the players response, "Where AAARE you?"*

* For those of you unfamiliar with the reference, that was the title of an American sitcom of the 1950's/'60's.

I grew up in the north west of England, where "Oh my giddy aunt" was and is used frequently. I always assumed it was an alternative to "oh my god". See also the use of "fishcakes" by grown up who didnt want to use the f word around their children!

A bit late to join in, but "Oh My Giddy Aunt" was used as a substitute for blaspheming, the real term being "Oh My Gawd Above". "Oh My Giddy Aunt Fanny" takes it a step further. No need to spell that out. Sadly or not, as a London boy I do use the phrase from time to time - rolls nicely off the tongue. And Karen, thank you so much for sharing your old man's nightly ramblings - absolutely top drawer.

ah pet the wonderful lingo of uk bingo installed in us from childbrith by overzelous relatives that only rears its head in holiday destinations worlwide when a brit is issued with a laminated bingo card by a holiday rep. Seriously once saw a grown man in mexico fall and break an ankle whilst trying too be first too claim a free t-shirt :)

I admit that I didn't read through every single comment. I read probably 4 pages worth and then scrolled down to comment, but I'm seriously surprised that all you UK residents say that "my giddy aunt" is not used anymore. I hear it all the time on BBC America. I'm not watching all old shows either. The show Skins says it constantly and that's current.. Top Gear's Hammond has been heard to utter the phrase now and again... Am I missing something? Sounds like y'all use it a fair amount there still today.

Well, I'm 29 years old and I still say 'Oh my giddy aunt.' However, people do take the mickey. I have no idea why I say it and my friends don't, so it is alive and well, although I've only ever seen it in print once and heard it said by someone else once (and, yes, they were under thirty!) Loving the blog! Had me crying at work so much I had to leave the room.

If you have ever seen the IT Crowd, one of the characters says "I am a giddy goat!". Have a look on YouTube if you're interested to see. Giddy does mean silly, but it's more ditzy than silly, I suppose. It was used more "back in the day" here in England. Everyone in England knows that "legs eleven" is 11 in Bingo. There's way more of 'em (two fat ladies is 88, for example). Calling numbers out this way at Bingo in England is somewhat of a tradition, nowadays, albeit weird.

I just lost my comment when I selected the profile drop-down... why they would put that *after* the comments makes no sense to me.

Anyway, what I said was that I ran across this site randomly, as one is wont to do on the Internet. And I don't have time to read all the comments as I am at work. Working, I swear. So my apologies if this has already been covered...

Here's a link to a great discussion of the expression "oh my giddy aunt!" from the BBC's Fraser's Phrases:http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2014/05/frasers-phrases-oh-giddy-aunt/